Ellen Pao Files Notice Of Appeal For KPCB Discrimination Case

Reddit CEO and former venture capitalist Ellen Pao has filed a notice of appeal in her long-running gender discrimination case against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to a filing submitted today to the Superior Court of California.

The filing, which is dated June 1 and embedded here, simply indicates a notice of appeal, which is the very beginning of the appeals process — it does not enumerate on what grounds she is appealing, or detail the timeline on which the appeal will occur.

Christina Lee, KPCB’s marketing and communications partner, sent the following statement in response to the filing:

“A 12-member jury found decisively in favor of KPCB on all four claims. We remain committed to gender diversity in the workplace and believe that women in technology would be best served by focusing on this issue outside
of continued litigation.”

In March, a San Francisco jury ruled against Pao on all four of her claims against KPCB, where she worked from 2005 to 2012. After a trial that stretched out for more than a month, the jury ruled that Pao’s gender was not a motivating factor for her termination from the firm or for her failure to be promoted to general partner, nor was her firing an act of retaliation against her. Pao was seeking at least $16 million in lost wages, and stood to receive up to $144 million in punitive damages.

The verdict meant that she was responsible for KPCB’s court costs, which racked up to nearly $1 million — though Kleiner Perkins said it would waive those fees if Pao herself waived her right to appeal. Today’s filing indicates that she won’t be taking Kleiner Perkins up on that offer after all.